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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22371007">About A Girl And A Neosapien</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Qlippoth/pseuds/Abraxas'>Abraxas (Qlippoth)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Exosquad</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 13:00:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,029</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22371007</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Qlippoth/pseuds/Abraxas</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of drabbles that center on the relationship between Nara and Marsala. Each chapter is a unique drabble but they do follow a pattern or continuity. Only the 8th drabble/chapter is rated M; the rest are rated T.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Marsala / Nara Burns</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Yellow: Nara Removed The Mask</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A short &amp; angsty scene between Nara and Marsala set after the rescue from the clutches of the Pirates.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Originally Published February 2, 2010</p>
<hr/><p>Nara removed the mask - shaking then coughing as cold, bitter air invaded her lungs. Amid the tumult, that reawakening, the mask slipped and hit the floor with a thud. Everything went unnoticed as the war echoed throughout the vessel.</p><p>The universe was a blur inside that whirl of chaos. She forgot where she was, what she was, even who she was. And, oddly, that loss of identity did not frighten the girl.</p><p>It came as a relief.</p><p>Was a dream? Or was it that she had been overlooked as the machine of war passed? Left behind, alone, to stagger home. Hope - illusionary as it was foolish, deadly.</p><p>Peace was shattered by the fragments of memory that returned.</p><p>"Marsala!" she uttered involuntarily as if trapped by the explosion - the shock of it, relived as it was, overpowered any kind of control.</p><p>Marsala - the last face she saw after the Pirate's attack. As vision faded, as awareness ebbed, she feared she voiced that confession - that she was safe with Marsala. Gods, if she said it aloud!</p><p>Where that came from she could not say but that it was true.</p><p>"Nara ... Nara, terrans are not ... unfragile," he said trying to re-mask the girl.</p><p>"It's you," she said, weak yet determined, to stop the neosapien.</p><p>The impasse was reached as hand met hand with mask between fingers.</p><p>She sighed.</p><p>The room was dim. Its window shut. Its doorway gaped. Both were pitch. Except at the rim of the glass where slivers of yellow laser weaponry shined through.</p><p>"I heard you call."</p><p>A hand clutched a shoulder with the gentility of a feather.</p><p>A face smiled.</p><p><em>He heard....</em> She called. <em>He heard....</em></p><p>She blushed - caught again revealing too much.</p><p>She clutched his arm, completing the circle, then raised her hand to his cheek.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Indigo: Just By The Sounds Of The Footsteps She Knew</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>After the battle at Olympus - Marsala is guilt-stricken about the deception he pretended to act in front of Nara.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Originally Published February 2, 2010</p><hr/><p>He looked at Nara - the girl stared at lonely, empty space ... at stars ... at swirling, indigo mists.</p><p>Guilt! Was it fifty years ago that he felt such emotion? It had been after his capture. It was so, so worse. Then, his failure was to a cause. Now, his betrayal came with a face. Lips that quivered. Eyes that teared.</p><p>Traces of it remained - reflected off of the glass.</p><p>JT had been upset by the deception - especially after the ordeal with the probe. The other members of Able Squad were not happy. But time passed and they realized his judgment was correct. To kill Phaeton - it was worth the sacrifice of a few. They were warrior enough, all of them, to understand the calculus of it.</p><p>Moments of silences passed as the laws of attraction between flesh drew them into each other.</p><p>It was different with Nara Burns. Because Able Squad was the girl's only family and to turn against them was a stab through the heart. It was made worse by the fact that he could not say everything that happened was a lie. His speech about injustice was real ... and she knew it.</p><p>"Do you regret what happened that night in those ruins of Chicago?" he asked as if defeated already.</p><p>"That night - we were almost caught - I don't regret it," she said, smiling, longingly. "It was beautiful."</p><p>Marsala could not live without that taste of family Nara provided. It was shocking it escaped notice - the strength of the bond between them. And it killed him to think it was endangered.</p><p>"I'm sorry about Olympus."</p><p>She held onto his hands - white on blue flesh. She reached around his waist - body against body.</p><p>"It's OK...."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Red: The Room Was A Lonely And Forgotten Place</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Nara, in the wake of her first, real mission, is rather angsty about being alone and being paired with Marsala - who she hasn't gotten to know yet.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Originally Published February 4, 2010</p>
<hr/><p>The room was a lonely and forgotten place. And tiny compared to what she was used to. It was stripped to essentials: bed, desk, chair. A lamp by the desk that glowed smokey azure light.</p><p>As Nara Burns entered she was disturbed by unease. A sense that doom was about to catch her in its grip. Just the look of the room was enough to awaken that impression.</p><p>She was not new to Exo Fleet - but it was the first real mission away from Venus. Maybe it was only anxiety? The realization that soon it would not be training anymore. That death was a very real possibility.</p><p>So then and there, caged, she felt alone.</p><p>She opened the window. Venus was a glowing red jewel beyond the glass. Its image renewed her strength. A new-found power emerged. It was good to be reminded why she joined the force - although, she wondered, what else would be sacrificed as life passed.</p><p>She tapped her head against the glass.</p><p>"I can do it...."</p><p>She sighed - unconvinced.</p><p>The girl lay on the bed with a stuffed fury bear. She wanted to talk. But the only people she knew was that family below upset by her decision. And if she tried to speak to them they would be rallying to get her out of Exo Fleet.</p><p>Able Squad that the only shoulder left.</p><p>What about the co-pilot she had been assigned to? Marsala. They would be working together a lot. He seemed intimidating. She was not used to Neosapiens - they were rare on Venus. </p><p>She was curious but felt it impolite to ask too much. Anyway, she did not want to be a bother, they were only partly acquainted. That was going to change - she just hoped their pairing was not a mistake.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Orange: DeLeon Prompted Bronski To Tell Another Joke</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Marsala is also worried about Nara and whether or not they can work well together.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Originally Published February 3, 2010</p>
<hr/><p>DeLeon prompted Bronski to tell another joke.</p><p>Marsala sat by JT to eat orange colored rations.</p><p>After years of service he did not feel awkward around terrans and their brand of camaraderie. Yet there remained the obvious - he was the odd man out. Accepted, even admired, eternally unable to fit with the pack.</p><p>There were those who wondered about the loyalty of Neosapiens in general and he in particular. Despite Windfield's years lobbying the cause. Despite his tireless and steadfast work with Exo Fleet. Everything in the face of prejudice.</p><p>He looked about the table. The faces of his companions were clear. They were friends and very good soldiers but there remained gulfs of misunderstandings between them. Stares. Awkwardness. He was eager to see if their missions together were going to alter those dynamics.</p><p>They needed to learn how to trust each other - that was the key.</p><p>And that brought his focus to Nara Burns. She was not among those gathered at the galley. He felt that he needed to find the girl. They were going to be co-pilots, relying on each other to survive. It was only logical that they should be beyond passingly acquainted.</p><p>He had been caught off guard by her age. Although, biologically, they were identical with respect to age - chronologically they were decades apart. She seemed so new and different. So out of her element. It was familiar.</p><p>What was it that JT said? She came from a family. Indeed, it was unlike Able Squad. Almost everyone at that table joined Exo Fleet to run away from a past.</p><p>Adjustment was hard. Change was hard. Equally so for terrans and Neosapiens. </p><p>Marsala turned to JT to excuse himself with a nod - and he slunk out of the galley as the gang erupted into laughter.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Blue: The Universe Was A Tunnel Without End</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Nara and Marsala share an almost intimate moment in the ruins of Chicago.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Originally Published February 3, 2010</p>
<hr/><p>The universe was a tunnel without end.</p><p>Marsala and Nara separated from Able Squad after their mission at Chicago had been intercepted. They fled, hastily, through the underbelly of a city already Phaeton's favorite target. Little but death surrounded them as they struggled to escape.</p><p>The neosapien found a doorway. The girl watched the rear - rubble was thick and masked their position. The doorway was cleared with a punch. She jumped through it. He slithered across it. Quickly they blocked the entrance with debris until only a few cracks remained out of which came the glow of fire.</p><p>The two were vigil - weapons aimed - as the sounds of trackers neared. Then hour after hour passed. When it was quiet they reasoned the tunnel was empty.</p><p>Marsala tapped Nara - he pointed to a doorway, behind, which lead to deeper and deeper levels. They approached - all the while not a sound escaped. Below awaited a complex collapsed and abandoned. It would be their home that night.</p><p>They sat together, tightly, to share their warmth - it went unnoticed how white and blue skin touched naturally.</p><p>"Just another day's hike," he said.</p><p>She nodded - and rested her head against his chest. </p><p>She clasped his hand and held it atop her thigh. Without protest his fingers spread and slipped between her legs to rub her muscles. His other, free hand aimed toward her cheek - to stroke it - and he hesitated.</p><p>What was the fear? They were alone. Nobody was going to catch them.</p><p>He brought her hand onto his thigh. There she massaged his leg, up and down, feeling a growing, deepening heat that matched her own craving. She aimed to roam toward its source - but she hesitated.</p><p>It was not the first time affections wandered and it was getting harder and harder to stop.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. White: Marsala Gazed At The View Of Olympus</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Marsala's angst at the way things changed for him after the war.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Originally Published February 3, 2010</p>
<hr/><p>Marsala gazed at the view of Olympus - where everything ended and began - the sun was white, bright tip at its peak.</p><p>Time, it seemed, was irrelevant to a Neosapien. Without the break of sleep, days passed into days, unnoticed. He gained years like a machine lapped miles. Only at those crossroads when caught by the grip of doom - when he sensed life itself was at risk - was there a cause to pause and reflect on the eons that were and would not be.</p><p>It was a shock to chart the course of his life. Was it yesterday that he toiled in the mines of Mars? If he stepped through that doorway it felt he would be back directing the rebellion. A decade as prisoner passed like the blink of the eye. Life with Windfield - wartime captor and peacetime friend - and with the Exo Fleet and Able Squad. All of that actually happened.</p><p>It had been ten years since the war and it could have been yesterday.</p><p>Marsala thought that rebuilding Mars would have given life a purpose. While he succeeded with the physical, he failed with the emotional, as he realized he was not a part of the world - the Mars that evolved under his supervision. Those Neosapiens and their naturally born children were a universe apart.</p><p>What was he?</p><p>He raised them and everyday their future meant his isolation.</p><p>What was he?</p><p>A stranger, alien despite everything.</p><p>"Nara ... Nara...." he sighed caught by a wave of regret.</p><p>The Neosapien sat at the desk in front of a holograph of the girl. Hers was the only image he kept. Its little clip of motion the only atom of life.</p><p>It was like cowardice but the move was very long delayed - it was time to go the way of a soldier.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Violet: The Ruins Of The Homestead Remained</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Nara's angst about what her life was like on Venus after the war.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Originally Published February 3, 2010</p>
<hr/><p>The ruins of the homestead remained as it was when the Neosapiens struck it. She stood under its dome - alone - uncertain what to do. If she were not isolated, maybe, it would be endurable.</p><p>Cities were dusted. Towns were erased. Neighbors contemplated a return to the Earth. And everyone looked at her as a symbol of what caused that downfall of Venus. Alas, it was the echo of her family's protests. But there remained a feverish anti-neosapien sentiment that she did not tolerate. And that her crops grew while others withered only furthered the exile.</p><p>Nara Burns was content to be alone. She knew she was changed and could not rejoin the terrains - or any other part of humanity. She was altered after her capture by Ketzer.</p><p>Her DNA bottled a vast power to sustain and renew.</p><p>She felt the weight of the world as only an outsider was capable. Was it karma for the sins of humanity? There must have been a purpose to it.</p><p>As the sun set and spread its violet shades across the dome. As it sunk lower and lower toward the horizon. As it vanished behind the jagged row of trees. The stars broke through the sky and she thought again of the universe and the beauty that time and space conspired to deny such fragile creatures.</p><p>She thought of adventure and about him. Marsala. The one who caught her soul. She thought of him. Another lonely wanderer.</p><p>Was it possible to return and relive another day?</p><p>Even in war there was peace - found when her body filled with his warmth. It was like the joy felt by the earth when fertilized with life. A pleasure she felt through her abilities.</p><p>But like the swirls of sights above those days were impossible to reach.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Black: Nara Could Not Forgive Marsala For Leaving</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Marsala comes back to Nara on Venus and they rekindle their love affair.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Originally Published February 3, 2010</p>
<hr/><p>Nara could not forgive Marsala for leaving. Yet, at that moment, at that instant, all those vestiges of heartbreak were swept away. Instead they embraced. Not a word was spoken. Only the rustle of trees and the roar of fields reminded that the world still existed.</p><p>Although it seemed it was just a Neosapien and a girl again.</p><p>"Was it yesterday?" she asked.</p><p>"To me - it's still today," he answered.</p>
<hr/><p>Fire - its light reflected off of the dome. They, those prisoners of time, huddled in front of the flames. Like the way it used to be within shadowy, dark pits where intimacy was bred.</p><p>Then hand met hand. She rubbed his thigh. He squeezed her shoulder. His leg twitched anticipating the magic of her touch. Her breath raced revealing undying, aching longing.</p><p>Marsala kissed Nara - a gasp escaped her lips as if they orgasmed.</p>
<hr/><p>She reclined and his legs straddled her body as he crawled. His knees touched her knees. His elbow rubbed her elbow. He lowered until their lips met.</p><p>"Release me...."</p><p>She reached and exposed his arousal then filled her body with it. Their eyes locked. He dug it deep still amazed she was able to accept all of it.</p><p>"Fill me...."</p><p>An owl fluttered its surprise above as it watched below - as discrete as they tried to be the lovers had been caught at last.</p><p>He stroked driven by her need, bucking, a raw display of intimacy. She cried and it echoed about the shell of the homestead. They clawed and dug into the ground as pleasures surged through their bodies which flexed and contorted wildly.</p><p>Nara felt his warmth filling her void and just the thought of Marsala erupting spurred her rupture.</p><p>Kissing, as waves of heat passed, they nestled against each other.</p><p>"Welcome home, Marsala...."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Green: Drifting Amid Breaks Between Skirmishes</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A scene with Nara and Marsala in which Nara wonders about what life is/was like for Marsala, being the only Neosapien in Exo Fleet.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Originally Published February 4, 2010</p>
<hr/><p>Drifting, amid breaks between skirmishes, Able Squad drilled ... drilled. They could have been caught a thousand different ways. An attack was imminent. The ship was damaged and doubts were raised about it withstanding yet another onslaught. </p><p>Nara slunk into the cockpit shared with Marsala. As war raged someway, somehow, within its dome she felt at peace. Everything outside could have been a million miles away.</p><p>The girl wondered if was related to the Neosapien.</p><p>A serenity surrounded the rebel. It was intensified by the intimation of a bond between them after her own brush with death. JT said Neosapiens were not wired like terrans. Yet their interactions revealed a truth - they only expressed their emotions different, they possessed them still. Just like terrans. If not deeper and very much intense.</p><p>That was not everything. There seemed to be an emptiness with Marsala that Able Squad filled. At least Nara guessed so. She could not imagine what it would be like to be unattached to a family. No mother. No father. No history. Although they considered their broodmates like brothers and sisters, looking at their varieties and divergences, it was more a formality than a familiarity.</p><p>"It mustn't be easy to be the only one in Exo Fleet," she said.</p><p>"It was difficult - at first - I felt out of place," he said.</p><p>A lot out of place.</p><p>She squeezed his shoulder, massive enough to swallow her body. She thought he could not feel it. Until she noticed the way his white red eyes gazed at her figure. She felt he wanted to say something, do something, too.</p><p>Nothing said about Neosapiens prepared her for what she found. </p><p>She wanted to ask why he joined - then - was caught by shyness. She was still too green, as it were, to penetrate the subject.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Infinity: And So The World Went On</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>What happened to Nara and Marsala after they reunited on Venus?</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Originally Published February 4, 2010</p>
<hr/><p>And so the world went on with its business.</p><p>It might have been noticed - their ... disappearance.</p><p>Friends would have caught wind of it. Maybe contemplated it from time to time. In remembrances. Certainly. In ceremonies. And in life when they reflected upon the war.</p><p>Historians, investigating Able Squad's exploits, would have been at a loss to explain what happened to a pair of figures as important as Nara and Marsala. Although, it should be said, the mystery did not captivate the culture. There was already a plethora of other, colorful characters filling the void. From Admiral Marsh to Professor Bronski.</p><p>As time passed, the few who noticed, came to think of the girl and the Neosapien as legend.</p><p>Not an ounce of bitterness betrayed their bliss. They were content to be overlooked. The war changed them. Emotionally. Physically. Even genetically. They were outside of normal and, forgotten, slipped past a world that did not want them.</p><p>Those that knew of the war perished yet they remained. They travelled through generations. They saw eons after eons. The races blended until it happened that war between terrans and Neosapiens became as unimaginable as war between right and left arms. All the while ageless as if trapped by time. Watching from the wilderness that formed their land of exile. </p><p>It was best....</p><p>They remained in the ruins of the homestead. It was consumed by Nature and they, too, became a part of their environs. There, within their arms, they caught a glimpse of infinity - and completeness. They only needed each other. As the void of space grew above below they settled together and relived the adventures of what passed and fantasized about new and different worlds. And they searched, still, that tunnel - escape was another day away - maybe soon they would be free.</p>
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